The Bittersweet Reminder Of Time And Parenting Courtesy Of Facebook

Every generation experiences parenting in a different way based on their environment. When my parents were in their forties they didn’t have Facebook. So they didn’t get a bittersweet reminder of how fast time goes by when it came to me and my sisters. They would not have received a five year old memory notification of me or my sisters getting ready for a sporting event or our first day of school. There wasn’t that instant trip down memory lane. For that they had to go into boxes in the basement and take out old photo albums. We would do that from time to time, but it wasn’t a weekly thing.

The Bittersweet Reminder

I bring this up because the past few times I have logged onto Facebook I received those reminders where my daughters were five, six or seven years younger. I stopped what I was doing to think about that part of our lives. I have been taking screenshots of those pictures and sharing them with my wife and daughters. We would talk about that moment in time. One of us might share a story on what we remember from that picture. It was a fun way to take a few minutes out of our day and acknowledge how fast time flies by.

I am guessing that for the most part everyone is at home with their families. There are times where we all need our space. I have seen countless memes of parents and kids going CRAZY being stuck at home. Yet those reminders that pop up on my Facebook account help me realize that time stops for no one. As my wife and I help our daughters navigate their school work we might get lost in our daily routine and not appreciate this time together. I feel that when I share those photos it makes us all stop and smell the roses.

Time Rolls On

I know that once we all get to go back into the world time will go by even faster. My wife and I talk about how things will be different when we get back to some type of normalcy. I do hope that I do not take this time for granted. I hope that when I get another notification five years from now that I look back and know that I cherished that time with my family.